ABSTRACT
This book explores generation as both a reference to family or kinship structures, and a reference to cohorts or age sets. The principal objective is branching out this two-part concept through studies of tensions and solidarity within and between generations of advanced and robust welfare states.
Answering key questions using multiple disciplinary approaches, the book considers how generations challenge advanced and robust welfare states; how new and young generations are affected by living in an advanced welfare state with older generations; how tensions or solidarity are understood when facing challenges; and what the key characteristics are of certain generation types. It contributes to the development of a more comprehensive generation approach within social sciences by developing the concept of generation by exploring different challenges to the welfare state such as migration, digitalization, environmental damages, demands for sustainability, and marginalization. Highlighting the escalating tensions and altered versions of solidarity between generations, this book shows how a comprehensive concept of a generation can create new insights into how we collectively coordinate and resolve challenges through the welfare state.
It will be of interest to all scholars and students of social policy, sociology, political science, and social anthropology.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part 1|60 pages
The politics of generations
chapter 2|19 pages
Welfare state redistribution between overlapping generations – normative theories applied to two contemporary debates
chapter 3|21 pages
The age profile of European welfare states
part 2|54 pages
Generations within families
chapter 5|17 pages
Thinking through generation
chapter 6|15 pages
The welfare state and family
chapter 7|20 pages
Will more education work?
part 3|86 pages
Historical and ascriptive generations